Substance abuse prevention for grades 7 & 8

Easy to Adopt and Proven to Work

The Project ALERT curriculum was created and tested by the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. Developed over a ten-year period, Project ALERT addresses the pro-drug mindset of today’s teens and effectively increases their likelihood to remain drug-free.

Self-paced Training

Introducing Project ALERT to your classroom is easy with our online training program. You control the pace of your training, and we’re always available to answer questions and offer support.

The online training was designed to be completed in about 5 to 6 hours, but will vary by user. You must do all 11 core and 3 booster lessons to receive your certificate. It will be emailed to you within 24 hours of completion

Convenient Lesson Plans

Your curriculum resources include fourteen easy-to-follow lessons, all available in our convenient eReader or as a download. Each lesson includes implementation hints, reference materials and handouts that you can email directly to your students.

12 Projectable Classroom Posters

When information is communicated visually, it's easier for many students to absorb. For that reason, 12 projectable posters are included to support the goals of the Project ALERT curriculum. To preview the posters, select an image thumbnail.

Online Interactive Student Videos

Most Project ALERT lesson plans are supported by a short video. Featuring candid interviews with older teens and fictional depictions of common situations, these videos amplify lessons by providing helpful conversation starters or setting up role play activities.

Project ALERT classroom videos are now available for streaming and download on via iTunes Podcast.

Electronic Newsletters

The ALERT Educator includes teaching tips, new trends in substance abuse, related research and other useful information. You can view, share and save the current newsletter right here or you can join our mailing list.

Calling all student directors, actors, and producers!

Project ALERT announces its first ever Video Contest. We are looking for educators and students to revamp our classic classroom video, Lindsey's Choice. In addition to their video becoming part of the nationally-known and widely-used Project ALERT curriculum, the wining team will receive an engraved trophy to display at their school/organization and a $250 Amazon gift card!

Monitoring the Future - Updated Data for 2015

The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future national survey of substance use among students in U.S. middle schools and high schools has released results from 2015. Overall, for 8th graders, use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and a number of other illicit drugs remained steady or declined slightly since the last survey in 2014. Overall trends for all students indicated that both alcohol and cigarette use in this most recent survey were at their lowest points since the study began back in 1975. E-cigarette use has surpassed cigarette use among 8th graders and rates grew slightly from 2014.

New Supplement on Heroin and Opioids

Project ALERT has just published a new supplement, Heroin and Other Opioids. We hope you will be able to set aside a few minutes to review some important facts and statistics about this issue with your students.

As with our recently-published supplements on marijuana and e-cigarettes, we kept the reading level appropriate for middle schoolers, making the guide suitable to use as a hand-out.

We hope you find this guide to be a useful and timely supplement to the Project ALERT curriculum.